Day 13. Yreka to McCloud. 52.8 miles, 2586' climbing.

This was a very nice ride.  We took it easy, leaving early to avoid the heat and stopping as needed to get our seats off our seats.

This is our friend, John McManus, from Dallas.  He has done 90 cycling tours and ranks this one as among the top 2 for difficulty.  We are doing a lot of climbing.  Although today "featured" a couple of challenging ascents, it had only 2586' of climbing -- less than any day since our ride from Sunriver to Lake Odell.

We've ridden through lots of country like this, usually on the flatter parts of the day. Flat, even terrain is good for taking pictures.  Since Kris is on the back of the bike and has no steering or braking to do, she can pull out her iPhone and snap some shots. You notice there are fewer photos of climbing terrain.  That's because it's hard to hold the phone steady when you're gasping and once we start a hill, we don't want to stop until the top.

A view down one of the streets in McCloud.  That's Mt Shasta.  McCloud is pretty teeny but is still a big tourist destination.  A nice old hotel and many B&Bs

This is a shady picture of the McCloud Hotel.  We are not staying there but did have dinner there and it was very nice.  McCloud is an old lumber/railroad town and the buildings are from that era.  The B&B we're in was once an office building for the McCloud River Lumber Company, which owned the town.

Leftovers from the McCloud heyday -- leaning but still standing.

Day 12. Ashland to Yreka. 48.5 miles, 3723' climbing.

Today began with a climb of about 2500' to Siskiyou Pass.  It was a shady route but we still got hot.  Sweat dripped off me long before the summit.

This was the view from the 4464' pass.

As we neared Yreka (pronounced why-REE-ka) Kris snapped this pic of Mt. Shasta.  When we got in to town, we stopped at the first milk shake establishment we saw.  We both had Oreo cooke shakes.  Still, I look like I'm losing weight.

It's hot and dry here.  Stand in the sun and cook; sit in the shade and be comfortable.

Day 11. Crater Lake to Ashland. 90.6 miles, 3431' climbing.

The ride started with a beautiful descent down from Crater Lake Lodge to Ft. Klamath.

Halfway down we stopped at the Annie Creek Restaurant and Deli for breakfast.

This was Beany's last day.  She was a fill-in for another rider who will join the ride now that her broken thumb is healed.  We will miss Beany; she has been a fun addition to the group.  We hope we can climb like her when we're 74. Heck, some of us wish we could keep up with her NOW.

After our breakfast, we completed the descent and rode flat to rolling until mile 49, when we had a 3+ mile climb to the turn-off on Dead Indian Memorial Rd.  Advertised as "undulating", that road began with steep short climbs and some decent downs.

This was a beautiful ride through the kind of country I remember from watching Bonanza on TV back in the 50s.

The fast part was at about mile 76.5 when we headed down to Ashland.  We flew. It was twisty and we were buffeted by crosswinds but we still managed to hit 47.4 mph briefly before braking for a curve.

For dinner, we went to Caldera Brew Pub.  The building had a 20-ft. high ceiling and all four walls were lined with empties -- over 4000 bottles and only one duplication.  Of course, the bottles were so high that you'd need binocs to scan them all to see if they were telling the truth.  They had great food, great service and we liked the spot a lot.  Great music!

Day 10. Lake Odell to Crater Lake Lodge. 4350' climbing, 68.5 miles.

The ride to Crater Lake was a tough one for us.  Just had a low energy day.

Lake Odell as we left it on our way to Crater Lake.

This was our reward for all the miles of up -- the views from our room. You can see part of Wizard Island in the lower photo.

Sunrise this morning from our window. Time for me to get downstairs for cappuccino.  More later.

This was our first stop after leaving Odell yesterday, where we took off the clothes we needed at the chilly start and bought sandwiches for later.

A decent shot of Wizard Island in Crater Lake. We're off to see more of the park now.  And already thinking about our 90-mile day tomorrow, mostly downhill to Ashland. There is also talk about whether we will be able to enter Yosemite during the last 4 days of our ride.  Forest fires are closing roads there now and we would be near there in only 9 days.

Day 9. Sunriver to Lake Odell. 55 miles, 2180' climbing

After failing to photograph her marvelous Huevos Rancheros yesterday, Kris insists I post this pic from her breakfast today.

Steel Cut Oats Brûlée with raisins.

Here's to the lucky ones.  Like this stately Ponderosa pine that escaped the fire while trees around it were reduced to charred stumps.

The Deschutes River far upstream from Bend -- along Cascade Lakes Highway west of Sunriver.

Who says trees can't thrive in a pile of rocks? The rocks are lava from Mazama -- the volcano that erupted 7,700 years ago forming Crater Lake, where we will ride tomorrow. 

Katherine Pigott smiling on her arrival at Odell Lake Lodge.  She's a British-born Canadian from Toronto who also speaks French.

Lake Odell is a beautiful spot.  Have seen numerous Ospreys and at least one Bald Eagle. I could stay here much longer than one day.  It's considered a trophy lake for Mackinaw (lake trout) and Kokanee (a land-locked form of Sockeye salmon).

Day 8. Sisters to Sunriver. 51 miles, 2606' climbing

We took our time riding today.  Slower and two long stops -- one in Bend for lunch and a second stop at the High Desert Museum south of Bend.  As a result we exposed ourselves to two rain showers.  Well, one was a thunderstorm.

Lunch at McMenamin's with our friends Larry and Roz Gibel from Albuquerque.  We rode with them a couple of years ago in Scotland and then met up with them again in Fredericksburg, TX last year.

Kris's cappuccino.

Kris had the best Huevos Rancheros she's had in a long time and regrets not taking a photo of it before making it disappear.

1935 Forest Service fire truck at High Desert Museum.  We are so glad we read The Big Burn by Timothy Egan before coming on this trip.  It explains why the Forest Service exists and why the great forests of the west are still here.

Day 7. 57 miles 3900' climbing. Detroit to Sisters

We rode some busy roads on the way to Sisters because there were no others.  We topped out on Santium Pass at about 4600' I think.  I forgot to have my Garmin tracking the route. It was not a particularly tough day other than the noise of the traffic. 

The 6-mile descent was nice, with much of it at around 40 mph.

On the way down, we stopped at an overlook to snap a smoky shot of Mt. Washington.

This is us at the same spot.

Our ride is being led by Alison Stone, who likes pink and riding with a lotta of gear.  Usually she's driving the luggage van but manages to get out on her bike on some of the days that require less van time.  She's doing an excellent job of keeping us supplied with whatever we need.  Her happy hours involve several choices of wine, cheese, crackers, fruit, chips, salsa, and occasionally homemade items she prepares as we ride.  We feel pampered.

On our rest day we met up with friends from Dallas and the Seattle area for dinner at the Deschutes  Brewery in Bend.  We loved their directional sign for finding the bathrooms. Our friends picked us up in Sisters and drove us to Bend and back.  Nice to ride in a car -- on seats wider than our bike seats.  One of the couples used to live in Dallas but have moved to La Pine, about 30 miles from Bend.  They are retired and love it here.

Day 6. Government Camp to Detroit Lake. 69.9 mi., 3920' climbing

Though a bit long, this was an easier day with lots of descending.  Yes, there was rain for an hour or so but later there was sun.

The view was the upper arm of Detroit Lake.  Beany and Patrice with me in the background.  We went 10 miles at one point without pedaling, much of it at over 30 mph.  

Sorry I've been unable to show a map of the day's ride for a few days.  That feature will return after a week from today.

Day 5. Hood River up to Government Camp

This was a 46-mile, 5300'-climb day.

This ride was up, up and more up.  Making matters worse, we dropped our chain a couple of times and one of those times involved a 20-minute ordeal to get moving again.  But it was a pretty ride.

This is Mt. Hood from the NE side.  The haze is smoke from a nearby forest fire.

Part of our ascent took us by a fruit market.  Pears, peaches and cherries are grown in the Hood River Valley.  We sampled and they were delicious.  We didn't realize there was a seat Kris could have sat in as tractor driver.  We were a bit brain-dead from the climb.  We had dead legs from the off-day the day before and not enough sleep.  (Bob, you need to add this tractor to your collection.)

After we crested the summit and were going around the SE side of Mt. Hood, we got a good view of that side.  The most exciting thing for us was Kris taking the pic at 43 mph. Nice smooth descent! And it was a good reward for having climbed almost 5000'.

Day 3. Packwood to Cougar. Ridden 8/18. Blog entry days later.

This day almost got lost due to pathetic upload speeds in Cougar.  It was a long hard day but there were good sights.

This chopper was on a curve on a Forest Service road.  The pilot had put it down for refueling on a logging job.  The window he had to fit through was not that big, and then he had to move onto the outside edge of the curve.  Impressive and also noisy as the engine was running and the blades turning.  I'll post a video of the idling chopper if I can figure out how to post it.

Mount St. Helens in the background.  We were on an 80 mile day with 4550' of climbing.  

Day 4 Cougar to Hood River

About 82 miles and 4520' of climbing.  This follows the previous day's 79 miler with 4550' of climbing. Tomorrow is an off day much needed for recovery. I will get a massage. And do some shopping.

The ride was beautiful but warm.  Blue skies all the way. Good to be in Oregon.

This was the most photogenic view of Mount St. Helens today.

Day 2 Eatonville to Packwood -- Beautiful!

Today we had a fairly easy ride.  So we stopped to take more pix.

Unfortunately, it is taking forever to upload them now so they will lower quality until I get to a hotel with faster WiFi -- probably the day after tomorrow at the earliest.

John McManus is also blogging our ride and his blog can be seen HERE.  He will have different photos covering the same ride.

Our ride finished with a mild climb and then fun descent through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  Gifford was the first director of the US Forest Service and his career and connection to Teddy Roosevelt is well documented in the excellent book, The Big Burn by Timothy Egan.  Kris and I recently read it and neither of us wanted it to end. Gifford boxed with Teddy Roosevelt at Teddy's request and his longer reach and decked him -- read the book!

In the town of Elbe, we spotted an expresso shop and decided to stop.  But as soon as we stopped we discovered there was a better attraction behind it -- this train.  As we rode east from Elbe we saw the train on its way into the park crossing the road in the distance ahead of us.
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We're in the boonies of Southern Washington and WiFi is too slow to upload photos.  We will be in a better place tomorrow -- Hood River, OR -- and I will post more then.

Today's ride, Aug. 18 -- Happy BD, Tim! -- took us by Mt. St. Helens.  Though beautiful, it was tough.  81 miles and 4950' of climbing.  We're tuckered.

OK.  Here is more that happened on this ride.  

We happened on these guys at an intersection -- a classic car club was on its way to show their cars when they had a breakdown.  The caramel 1940 Ford was running fine and sounded like it had a newer V-8 under the hood.  The red car had a U-joint problem and had to be towed.  But it was fun to see them.

Packwood has elk.  The motel owner says they are a nuisance --  they will eat anything you leave out.  Plus they wander the roads.

We walked by these two on our way to breakfast. One was a little spooked by me pointing a phone at it. But not the other one -- just kept munching grass.

Day 1, AKA Beany's Birthday Ride

Beany Wezelman from Berkeley burns brighter than most.  Her new bike, which replaced her old pink bike with downtube shifters and other old technology, is too gray for her.  So rainbow tie-die sleeves wrap two of the main tubes, adding a chromatic expression of Beany's personality. We learned a hill-climbing trick from Beany today. We lag behind her on hills, which is not difficult.  Beany kills hills.  Dead hills are easier to climb.  Beany is celebrating birthday No. 74 today.  We will have gin & tonics (her favorite drink) and tie-die birthday cake at happy hour tonight.  Go, Beany!

We got a good look at Mt. Rainier today.  Tomorrow we ride even closer but we figured we might not get another clear shot due to weather.  We'll see, and so will you, tomorrow.

Here is the route we will ride.  There is a longer route with more climbing, but we're passing on that as the following days are both 80-milers.